Film Comment Selects is an annual program hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and curated by the editors and writers of Film Comment magazine. It aims to provide a cutting-edge lineup of eclectic and international films, many of which have appeared on the international film festival circuit and been championed in the magazine but have yet to gain distribution. The program first appeared as a one-off event in March 2000, organized by editor Richard T. Jameson and showcasing the most significant films and filmmakers of the past decade. Gavin Smith and Kent Jones added three New York premieres to the roster (Lars von Trier’s The Idiots, Manoel de Oliveira’s Inquiétude, Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us), and based on its success, it was revived in 2002, remaining an annual event at the Film Society of Lincoln Center ever since. In recent years, the program has extended its focus on little-seen international discoveries to also include avant-garde selections, retrospectives of overlooked or underrated artists, previews of films that are soon to be released, and conversations with directors and actors.
Past programs
March 2000
Top of the World: Film Comment Magazine Selects the Most Important Films and Filmmakers of the Nineties
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995) Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992) Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994) JLG/JLG (Jean-Luc Godard, 1995) The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1993) Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) Miller's Crossing (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1990) The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993) The Idiots (Lars von Trier, 1998) Inquiétude (Manoel de Oliveira, 1998) The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami, 1999)
Special events
Pink Floyd The Wall (Alan Parker, 1982), followed by prog-rock afterparty with music by the DJs of Viva Radio—October 13, 2009 The Last Days of Disco (Whit Stillman, 1998), followed by a late disco dance party with DJs Jeremy Campbell (Tropical Computer System) and Dan Selzer (Acute Records)—August 27, 2009 Thirst (Park Chan-wook, 2009), with Park Chan-wook in person—July 20, 2009 The Friends of Eddie Coyle (Peter Yates, 1973)—May 26, 2009 1991: The Year Punk Broke (Dave Markey, 1992), followed by an after-party with music provided by Viva Radio—May 4, 2009 A Tribute to Pierre Clémenti; the USA premiere of Les Idoles (Marc’o, 1968)—November 25, 2008 The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980)—October 31, 2008 Che! (Richard Fleischer, 1969)—October 28, 2008 The Last Winter (Larry Fessenden, 2006)—September 17, 2007 The Executioner's Song (Lawrence Schiller, 1982), followed by a Q&A with Lawrence Schiller and Rosanna Arquette—August 5, 2007 Them (David Moreau and Xavier Palud, 2006)—August 2, 2007 Norman Mailer on Film: Tough Guys Don't Dance (Mailer, 1987) and Maidstone (Mailer, 1971), with Mailer in conversation—July 22, 2007 Preview screening of Joshua (George Ratliff, 2007), followed by a Q&A with George Ratliff, producer Johnathan Dorfman, and cast members—July 2, 2007 Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007) screened with Electra Glide in Blue (James William Guercio, 1973), with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost in person—April 10, 2007 An Evening with Charles Grodin, with a screening of Midnight Run (Martin Brest, 1988), followed by an onstage conversation with Charles Grodin—December 13, 2006 Sneak Preview of The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005), with Neil Marshall in attendance—July 24, 2006 Pine Flat (Sharon Lockhart, 2005), with Sharon Lockhart in person—May 25, 2006 An Evening with Anton Corbijn, Jonathan Glazer, Mark Romanek, and Stéphane Sednaoui (a 90-minute program featuring rare director’s cuts and previously unseen content), featuring all four directors in a roundtable Q&A and Michel Gondry as MC—September 13, 2005 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004), with Wong Kar-wai in person—June 15, 2005 We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (Tim Irwin, 2005), followed by a Q&A with Tim Irwin and producer Keith Schieron—May 24, 2005
2002
Martha… Martha (Sandrine Veysset, 2001) The Mission (Johnnie To, 1999) Investigating Sex (Alan Rudolph, 2001) Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001) The Sleepy Time Gal (Christopher Münch, 2001) The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001) The Entity (Sidney J. Furie, 1982) screened with Outer Space (Peter Tscherkassky, 1999) and Dream Work (Peter Tscherkassky, 2001) Forever Mine (Paul Schrader, 2000) Merci pour le chocolat (Claude Chabrol, 2000)
Focus on New Japanese Cinema
Barren Illusion (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1999) Not Forgotten (Makoto Shinozaki, 2000) Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998) Ichi the Killer (Takeshi Miike, 2001) H-Story (Nobuhiro Suwa, 2001) Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2001) Harmful Insect (Akihiko Shiota, 2001)
2003
11'09"01 (Samira Makmalbaf, Claude Lelouch, Youssef Chahine, Danis Tanovic, Idriisa Ouedraogo, Ken Loach, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair, Sean Penn, Shōhei Imamura, 2002) Happy Here and Now (Michael Almereyda, 2002) demonlover (Olivier Assayas, 2002) The Road (Darezhan Omirbaev, 2001) Combat d’amour en songe (Raúl Ruiz, 2000) Seafood (Zhu Wen, 2001) Path to War (John Frankenheimer, 2002) Seven Days in May (John Frankenheimer, 1964) Two films by Chris Marker and Société pour le lancement des Oeuvres Nouvelles (SLON): The Battle of the Ten Million (1970) and 2084 (1984) The Secret Lives of Dentists (Alan Rudolph, 2002) La Nouvelle vie (Philippe Grandrieux, 2002) Remembrance of Things to Come (Chris Marker and Yannick Bellon, 2002) screened with Embassy (Chris Marker, 1974) Ken Park (Larry Clark and Ed Lachman, 2002) Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2001) Monrak Transistor (Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 2001) Brief Crossing (Catherine Breillat, 2001) Shadow Kill (Adoor Gopalakrishnan, 2002) JUON:the grudge 2 (Noriko sakai) 2003 JUON: the grudge (2003)
2004
Greendale (Bernard Shakey aka Neil Young, 2003) All Tomorrow’s Parties (Yu Lik-wai, 2003) No Rest for the Brave (Alain Guiraudie, 2003) The Grudge (Takashi Shimizu, 2002) Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Andersen, 2003) The World's Greatest Sinner (Timothy Carey, 1962) Bright Future (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2003) Strayed (André Téchiné, 2003) The Story of Marie and Julien (Jacques Rivette, 2003) The Magic Gloves (Martín Rejtman, 2003) Playing “In the Company of Men” (Arnaud Desplechin, 2003) Ripley’s Game (Liliana Cavani, 2002) Gambling, Gods and LSD (Peter Mettler, 2002) Shanghai Picnic (Andrew Cheng, 2001) Welcome to Destination Shanghai (Andrew Cheng, 2003) The Five Obstructions (Lars von Trier and Jorgen Leth, 2003)
2005
Oldboy (Park Chan-wook, 2003) Clean (Olivier Assayas, 2004) At Five in the Afternoon (Samira Makmalbaf, 2003) Vital (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2004) Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004) Izo (Takashi Miike, 2004) Le Pont des Arts (Eugene Green, 2004) Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi, 2004) The Ister (David Barison and Daniel Ross, 2004) Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chan-wook, 2002) Secret File (Paolo Benvenuti, 2003) Ma mère (Christophe Honoré, 2004) Archival prints of Fixed Bayonet (Sam Fuller, 1951) and Steel Helmet (Sam Fuller, 1950) Los muertos (Lisandro Alonso, 2004) Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel (Eyal Sivan and Michel Khlefi, 2004) Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho, 2003)
Bulle Ogier Tribute
The Salamander (Alain Tanner, 1971) Le Pont du Nord (Jacques Rivette, 1981) Two (Werner Schroeter, 2002) Mistress (Barbet Schroder, 1973) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972)
2006
Ce Jour-là (Raul Ruiz, 2003) Everlasting Regret (Stanley Kwan, 2005) Stranded in Canton (William Eggleston, 1974/2005) Battle in Heaven (Carlos Reygadas, 2005) La Domaine perdu (Raul Ruiz, 2004) Shanghai Dreams (Wang Xiaoshuai, 2005) One Night (Niki Karimi, 2005) Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani? (Shinji Aoyama, 2005) Diás de Campo (Raul Ruiz, 2004) Saratan (Ernest Abdyshaparov, 2005) Workingman’s Death (Michael Glawogger, 2005) Isolation (Billy O’Brien, 2005) Kinetta (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2005) Bashing (Masahiro Kobayashi, 2005) Digital Short Films by Three Filmmakers: Haze (Shinya Tsukamoto, 2005); Magician(s) (Song Il-gon, 2005); Worldly Desires (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2005) The Forsaken Land (Vimukthi Jayasundara, 2005) Loft (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2005) Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (Lu Chuan, 2004)
Focus on Elaine May
A New Leaf (1971) The Heartbreak Kid (1972) Mikey and Nicky (1976) Ishtar (1987)
2007
Opening Night: Exterminating Angels (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2006) Closing Night: An Evening with Paul Verhoeven: Black Book (Paul Verhoeven, 2007) Bardo (Lin Tay-jou, 2005) Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, 2006) Exiled (Johnnie To, 2006) James Benning: Two Films: Ten Skies (2004) and 13 Lakes (2004) Lights in the Dusk (Aki Kaurismäki, 2006) Longing (Valeska Grisebach, 2006) Play It as It Lays (Frank Perry, 1972) Retribution (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2006) Summer ’04 (Stefan Krohmer, 2006) Summer Palace (Lou Ye, 2006) Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters (Mamoru Oshii, 2006) These Encounters of Theirs (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 2006) Twilight's Last Gleaming (Director’s cut, Robert Aldrich, 1977) The Wedding Director (Marco Bellocchio, 2006) The Yacoubian Building (Marwan Hamed, 2006)
2008
Opening Night: The Duchess of Langeais (Jacques Rivette, 2007) Closing Night: Alex Cox in Person: Walker (Alex Cox, 1987) and Searchers 2.0 (Alex Cox, 2007) Special Late Night Preview: George Romero’s Diary of the Dead (George Romero, 2007) The Banishment (Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2007) Before I Forget (Jacques Nolot, 2007) Boarding Gate (Olivier Assayas, 2007) Chop Shop (Ramin Bahrani, 2007) Container (Lukas Moodysson, 2006) Dark Matter (Chen Shi-zheng, 2007) Dust (Hartmut Bitomsky, 2007) The Edge of Heaven (Faith Akin, 2007) Ex Drummer (Koen Mortier, 2007) Flash Point (Wilson Yip, 2007) Frontière(s) (Xiavier Gens, 2007) Import Export (Ulrich Seidl, 2007) Inside (Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, 2007) Joy Division (Grant Gee, 2007) Schindler’s Houses (Heinz Emigholz, 2007) Wolfsbergen (Nanouk Leopold, 2007) A Wonderful World (Luis Estrada, 2007)
Spotlight on Richard Fleischer
Mandingo (1975) 10 Rillington Place (1971)
Mondo Packard
Reflections of Evil (Damon Packard, 2002) Damon Packard’s Greatest Hits: trailers for Apple (1992–1995), Untitled Star Wars Mockumentary (2004), Reflections of Evil (2003), The Early 70’s Horror Trailer (2002); Rollerboogie III (1999); Chad’s Wedding Video; Chemtrails (2005); Al’s Techno Bar (2005); Lost in the Thinking (2005); Dawn of an Evil Millennium (1988)
Other special programs
Crispin Glover in person: Rubin and Ed (Trent Harris, 1992) A new look at Philippe Garrel: J’entends plus la guitare (Philippe Garrel, 1991)
2009
Opening Night: Paradise (Michael Almereyda, 2009) Closing Night: The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008) A l’aventure (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2009) Adam Resurrected (Paul Schrader, 2008) Better Things (Duane Hopkins, 2008) The Chaser (Na Hong-jin, 2008) Frontier of Dawn (Philippe Garrel, 2008) Jerichow (Christian Petzold, 2008) Revanche (Götz Spielmann, 2008) The Tiger's Tail (John Boorman, 2006) A Week Alone (Celina Murga, 2007) A Woman in Berlin (Max Färberböck, 2008)
Special Retrospectives
The Killing of Sister George (Robert Aldrich, 1968) Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (Lou Adler, 1981)
Double Trouble: Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines
Demon Lover Diary (Joel DeMott, 1980) Seventeen (Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines, 1983)
Guy Debord
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (1978) The Society of the Spectacle (1973) screened with Réfutation de tous les judgements, tant élogieux qu’hostiles, qui ont été jusq’ici portés sur le film ‘La société du spectacle’ (1975)